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MMMS 25
🕑 Added 2025-04-17 01:24:00 +0000 UTCThe Sajyou household had recently acquired several beautiful women with impressive figures. They moved silently through the mansion wearing traditional black and white Victorian-style maid uniforms, handling all the household chores except for cooking. These women were actually homunculi that Morgan had created in just a single night.
According to Morgan, since they were made using her own blood and magical energy as high-quality materials, they possessed exceptional magic circuits and fighting abilities. They were scheduled to accompany Ryuuto to Fuyuki City for the upcoming war.
While Ryuuto didn't know much about homunculi quality, he noticed that when Hiroki Sajyou first saw Morgan's work, the man had gasped and remained silent for quite some time. Only after asking Manaka did Ryuuto learn that what Morgan had casually created far exceeded what modern magi understood about homunculi creation. In other words, they were vastly superior to anything produced by the Einzbern family or Atlas Institute.
Even the achievements of Paracelsus von Hohenheim, considered the founder of modern alchemy, still couldn't match those of the ancient sages who established the Atlas Institute. Between modern era and the Age of Gods, there exists an unbridgeable gap. As one of the supreme practitioners from the peak of the Age of Gods' magical tradition, Morgan naturally possessed considerable knowledge of alchemy. Her homunculi creations were both widely renowned and somewhat infamous.
…
That afternoon, Ryuuto sat on the sofa watching one of the homunculus maids cleaning the windows, his mind wandering. "Hey, couldn't you make a Saber face... I mean, couldn't you create a homunculus that looks like you?"
Although this group of homunculi had beautiful, perfectly proportioned faces, none of them had the "Saber face." Since they were created using Morgan's essence, he reasoned it should be possible to make homunculi with her facial features.
"No," Morgan replied flatly. She was sitting at the opposite end of the sofa reading a book and didn't even look up as she answered.
"So it's not that you can't do it, but that you won't?" he pressed.
"Mm," she replied simply.
"Why not?" He slid closer to her and stretched his neck to position his head between Morgan and her book, deliberately blocking her view. "Being surrounded by maids with your face every day would be a feast for the eyes."
"Master should know perfectly well why I won't do that."
"I honestly don't. Please enlighten me, ma’am."
She turned her face away and said quietly, "I don't want to see a homunculus with my face lying in Master's bed during the Holy Grail War. It would make me uncomfortable."
"Oh..."
In that moment, he felt as though she had completely read his mind.
…
In Miyama town stood an extremely luxurious Western-style house—the mansion of the Tohsaka family, the wealthy clan responsible for managing Fuyuki City's leylines. In the basement, Tokiomi Tohsaka was listening to a report from his ally from the Holy Church.
"So there are still no leads about who wiped out the Matou family overnight?" he asked.
This question was undoubtedly on the mind of every magus participating in the Holy Grail War. Who could possibly have eliminated that 500-year-old seemingly immortal old man on his own territory?
"According to my father, it was likely a secret ally that Zouken met about a year ago," the man replied. "Probably the result of a disagreement before the Holy Grail War began."
The person reporting to Tokiomi was none other than Kirei, the son of Risei Kotomine, who had recently summoned Berserker Jack the Ripper.
Three years earlier, Kirei had turned his back on the Church and become Tokiomi Tohsaka's student to learn magecraft. After receiving the Command Spells, Tokiomi and Kirei had publicly staged a falling out between master and disciple. But it was merely an act; Kirei remained Tokiomi's loyal student, fully committed to securing victory for the Tohsaka family.
"It doesn't appear to have been a planned attack," Kirei continued. "It seems more like an unexpected confrontation after foreign magi and Matou Zouken disagreed about who should control the Holy Grail. The evidence is that the Matou sons weren't killed and are still alive today. Only Sakura Matou remains missing."
Kirei delivered his father's conclusions without adding any personal commentary. After listening, Tokiomi nodded thoughtfully. "I see. So Sakura was indeed caught in that terrible fire..."
Since Sakura's disappearance, his wife had been crying every day, and his other daughter had become noticeably quieter. The man let out a calm sigh. When he had sent his daughter to the Matou family, he had already prepared himself for something like this. He just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.
After a long moment of silence, Tokiomi spoke again. "My assessment agrees with your father's. I don't understand what killing Zouken would accomplish for that foreign magus; it was probably a crime of passion. However, despite their decline over generations, for someone like Zouken to be eliminated in a single night is truly astonishing. The fall of the Matou... I wonder if this marks the end of the Three Founding Families' history?"
Though his words sounded melancholy, his expression showed no real sadness. In Tokiomi's mind, the collapse of the Matou family was a sign. Perhaps the history of the Holy Grail War would completely end with this generation, culminating with him obtaining the Holy Grail and reaching the Root.
"What about information on the foreign magus who eliminated Matou Zouken? Has the Church been able to identify them?" His fingers tightened around the armchair as he thought to himself: At the very least, I need to personally avenge Sakura.
Kirei simply shook his head without showing any emotion.
"I see... I've also had my people in Europe tracking the movement of the Matou family's overseas assets," Tokiomi continued. "The method of transferring the assets was extremely sophisticated, clearly handled by professionals behind the scenes. After selling off the Matou properties and stocks throughout Europe, they consolidated everything in Russia. From there, Russian oligarchs transferred them to the mafia, who moved them to Southeast Asia, with the next destination being China. Finally, this massive sum of money ended up with a company in England."
"England? Not Japan?"
"That's the puzzling part," Tokiomi replied thoughtfully. "The British company that ultimately received all the Matou family's assets is an overseas division of the Kuonji Foundation."
"The Kuonji Foundation..." Kirei repeated the name slowly, considering its implications.
This was a well-known major corporation in Japan whose business not only extended throughout the country but whose international influence actually exceeded its domestic presence. Why would such a prominent company have connections to the world of magecraft?
Tokiomi, noticing his student's confusion, explained quietly, "The eldest son of the Kuonji family, who actually runs the company, has a daughter with the potential to become a powerful witch."
"So you think the person who killed Zouken might be this young lady from the Kuonji Foundation?"
"We can't be certain yet, but if it is her, I wouldn't be surprised that she managed to eliminate Zouken," Tokiomi said, his brows drawing together tightly—showing more concern than he had even when discussing the genius El-Melloi.
"Is this daughter an even more formidable opponent than the Lords of the Clock Tower?" Kirei asked.
"Both the girl and her mother are powerful witches," Tokiomi sighed. "And in terms of combat ability, a witch is a more dangerous enemy than even the Crown of the Clock Tower. If possible, I really don't want to make an enemy of someone like that."
"Witches..." Kirei mused. "Supernatural beings connected to the First Magic..."
